Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas #3


Warning:  This post contains 30 photos.  

I really should have titled this post as "Magic Show" because it's the same people still hanging out  together--just a different day.  But it starts out on Tuesday night with the David Dietz family.  Jay & Amy had gone to the ranch to be with his family when some conversation sparked the idea for Andy to perform a magic show for the grandkids.  For those who don't know...Andy used to do magic shows for the kids at school, banquets, etc.  (Some of you are going to remember--and enjoy these photos!)  He's quite good.  I was pretty excited for him to show the grandkids his bag of tricks.  I don't know why we've never thought to do this before--but they're at the perfect age to enjoy it right now.

Addie, David & Ryan were all amazed that he could make one rubber band go through the other.

This is a coloring book that he shows.  Then the kids touch colors on their clothing and throw it at the book and it becomes colorful.  Then they grab the air and throw it and the book is totally blank.  I think this trick amazed them the most!

The kids had gone to bed at this point, so he asked Lindsey to assist him on this trick.

At the beginning of the trick, he has the assistant unzip the pickle bag and he scares them with his hand coming out.  It's a set-up to make them fearful the rest of the time.

Then he has her curl the snake (er...the rope) into the bag.  I won't tell you what happens here because he does the trick later with Isaac.

Now...here we are the next morning with 5 grandkids ready to watch the magic show.  They're pretty excited!

Pops (Buff) sets up his retro brief case filled with magic tricks.

The first trick is the coloring book.  David & Lindsey help grab the air to throw at the book....

...as do all the kids.

It's a hit!

Josiah assists in the card trick.  The king of hearts turns into the King of Hearts (Jesus).  Amazingly, Andy used to be able to share the gospel in the schools with this trick!

One impressed little girl in the audience.

Addie assists in the rubber band trick.

And they're all amazed.

Waiting for the next trick.

Olivia helps with the rope trick.  Three ropes of three different lengths become the same length!

Addie is the assistant for the knife trick.  A white knife becomes black!  The crowd wanted Pops to make it turn red, but that wasn't in his bag of tricks...

So Buff asks Isaac to assist him with the pickle bag trick--the same one Lindsey had done with him the night before.  Here he's being set up to be scared the rest of the time.

Isaac drops the snake (er...rope) into the bag---as Buff gooses him to get him more jumpy.

Isaac is perfectly set up...and mom is loving it.  

No...she's really loving it!

Isaac has to reach in and get the snake.  You can tell he's a little nervous.

But when he reaches in, he pulls out a MOUSE!!!

And promptly throws it across the room in his anxiety.

Josiah screams with Isaac!!

But the girls come to the rescue.  They run across the room, grab the mouse, and bring it to Pops/Buff.

The crowd goes wild.

And laugh for a long time.

Isaac is exhausted, but we all cheer him for his part in the trick.

And the adults love it and remember how good those tricks really are. 
They still hold a crowd.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas #2


You just never know what you're gonna get when you put 6 kids together who range in age from 10 months to 8 years!  But you can expect some of this....

Two little girls all made up.  Olivia got make-up for Christmas.  And she shared with Addilyn.  (Notice the hot pink eyebrows on Addie!)

We laugh at how these two seem to dress alike every time they're together.  When Jay showed up in his clerical collar, we didn't expect them to match!  Who knew?   

As soon as everyone was here for the 2nd go-round, we were ready to OPEN PRESENTS!!!

Can you tell what Isaac & Josiah got?  Shark's teeth necklaces!

This was Addie's gift from Hey & Shanna.

David was pretty excited about his...batteries!

Lindsey looks on with excitement.

Dax is playing with his mommy's gift from me.  I got the idea from pinterest.com.  It's a hanger with shower curtain rings---to hang your scarves on.

I'm the amateur photographer around here.  Amy, Shanna & Lindsey are the pros!  Look at that honkin' camera!

Olivia got a baton from Um-D & La-La.  
(We have lots of nicknames around here.  That's code for David & Lindsey.)

Zach (Mumzee or Hey)

Jay's pretty excited!!  The big guys all got helicopters.  They stayed excited the entire time they were here.  It's pretty amazing to have a church with rooms with tall ceilings to fly in!

Ryan with his Batman gloves from Uncle Jay & Aunt Mamy.

Each of my kids got a box of photos for Christmas.  I went through all of my photos and distributed.  It was a big hit!  I plan to do more later.

Amy's old photos were the most hysterical!  Glamor Shots and all...

Zach displaying some photos he took in high school.

Addie insisted on giving Hey a kiss...

He acted disgusted.  But we all know he was loving it!
You can see Amy's version of Christmas here.  (I forgot to pick up my camera during tea time!)
By the way, I'd like to give a shout-out to Shanna's best friend (and my friend, too!) Lana Terry Kates.  She told me she stalks my blog and I told her I'd give her an honorable mention.  And she just announced this Christmas...SHE'S PREGNANT!!!

Stay tuned for Christmas #3!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas #1

We celebrated Christmas in a couple of stages.  Zach, Shanna & Dax and Caitlin & Alexis came on Thursday, Dec. 22.  We were so excited!  It was our first Christmas with Dax and he was up for the challenge.  Caitlin & Alexis couldn't imagine what they were getting because they hadn't given me a list this year.  They, in fact, had told me months ago something they'd like--but had totally forgotten about it.  So they were in for a surprise!

Dax opened his push toy and was pretty excited--about the ribbon! 

Zach & Shanna got us an alarm clock with a ceiling digital display.  Andy had to check it out.  He was amazed.

Caitlin was beginning to get the picture of what was up for Christmas. 
This was her sewing kit.

Alexis with her sewing kit!

Dax warmed up and was ready to open a gift all on his own...

...while Daddy put Dax's first toy of the season together.

Caitlin trying to figure out what (and how) she was going to sew.

The gang opening gifts.

Ta-Da!  A new sewing machine!  
And Caitlin taking the first turn--making a pillow case.

Dax taking a turn on his new hot rod.

Both seamstresses busy.  
Alexis cutting out her new scarf and Caitlin sewing away at the sewing machine.

Alexis taking her turn sewing a scarf for her rabbit.

And the finished product.
I was very impressed with both girls.  Alexis made a scarf for her new rabbit while Caitlin made a skirt for hers.   And they both made a pillow case.  We were glad Uncle Zach & Aunt Shanna were here to enjoy the girls with us.
And this was just the warm-up for a very busy, energetic, kid-filled Christmas! 
Stay tuned for Christmas #2!